St. Patrick’s Day is quickly approaching, and there’s a little leprechaun that’s allergic to eggs.  So I set out to make our traditional Irish Soda Bread egg-free.  There are so many egg replacements, but we chose yogurt for this recipe, and I think that was the right call.

Because we used a commercially prepared buttermilk which was low-fat, I used nonfat yogurt.  If you’re going to make the buttermilk yourself with skim milk, I would suggest low-fat yogurt.  We used the buttermilk again to replace the traditional egg wash on top.

The egg-free version tastes exactly the same, but the texture is a little different.  The bread is a bit softer, with a finer crumb.  It was still delicious, and now I need to bake another loaf for the big day!

Egg-Free Irish Soda Bread

4 c. flour
3 T sugar
1 T baking powder
1/2 t salt
3/4 t baking soda
6 T butter
1 1/2 c. raisins
1/2 c. nonfat plain yogurt
1 1/2 c. + 1T buttermilk, divided

Preheat oven to 350F. Coat a 2 quart round casserole dish with cooking spray. In a large bowl, mix the first 5 ingredients (flour through baking soda). With a pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in raisins.

Stir yogurt and buttermilk in a small bowl.  Stir into flour mixture just until flour is moistened. The dough will be sticky.

Turn dough onto a floured surface, and with floured hands, knead about 10 strokes to mix thoroughly. Shape into a ball, and place in casserole dish. With a sharp knife, cut a cross in the top and brush dough with 1 T of buttermilk.

Bake about 60-100 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

• breads